For the 10th time in UCLA women’s water polo’s 23-year history, the Bruins have opened up the season 7-0.
The latest 13-2 win, against No. 14 Long Beach State (1-3) last night, saw all three of UCLA’s top scorers at the center of the action.
Freshman attacker Maddie Musselman scored the second goal of the game to give the No. 3 Bruins a 2-0 lead and keep her position as the team’s top scorer. Over seven games, she has 19 goals.
But it was redshirt senior attacker Rachel Fattal who provided the overwhelming amount of offensive firepower Friday night and gained ground on the freshman leader.
She scored her first of four goals to put UCLA up 3-0 in the first quarter, which would eventually prove to be enough in the end. Fattal scored her 16th, 17th and 18th of the season over the next three quarters – one in the second and two in the fourth.
The Bruins were set to go into halftime with a 6-0 lead, until 49er junior Alexandra Massier scored from the perimeter with only five seconds left.
Long Beach’s only other goal came in the fourth quarter, before which UCLA had scored five more, including one from redshirt senior defender Alys Williams, the team’s third leading scorer.
After the 49ers’ final goal, Fattal added her last of the game while redshirt senior center Alexa Tielmann posted her eighth point of the year to put the match in the books.
Sophomore goalie Carlee Kapana finished with five saves.